LONDON —Emma Coburn achieved one of her goals in the Olympics steeplechase Monday night, setting a new personal best. And she finished ninth, a good result for an aspiring young steepler still in college making her debut on the Olympic stage.

But the Colorado Buffs runner and two-time U.S. champion got nipped in a dive at the line by Germany's Gesa Felicitas Krause for eighth place, and that rankled Coburn just a little.

"I was happy to get a two-second PR," Coburn said.

"I wish I maybe would have not gotten dived at the line. I wish I would have held my eighth-place position. But overall I'm happy. A personal record and finishing ninth in the Olympics is something I'm proud of, and I hope to use this and my experiences in the future to prepare myself to race these women and hopefully do better against them in the future, finish a little higher up."

Yuliya Zaripova of Russia won the gold medal in nine minutes, 6.72 seconds. Coburn finished in 9:23.54. Habiba Ghribi of Tunisia claimed the silver medal and Sofia Assefa of Ethiopia the bronze.

New coordinator pushes Buffs to work, play at level he expectsJim Leavitt has discovered this much about his new defense at Colorado: He has some talent with which to work, but his players need to put it in another gear. Full Story